On tour right now.  Today we play a show in Nurnberg, Germany.  So far the tour has gone well, we had a particularly enjoyable show in London a few days ago.  Eight shows in a row before our first day off, but we are still going (despite a few injuries).

I wanted to make a quick announcement to let everyone know that the Quicksilver video is completed and up.  I am honestly really excited about it.  Special thanks to Director Marc Shahboz and his team who went way above and beyond.  We have the video viewable via youtube and our website presently.  I think it turned out really well and we invite you to make a comment.  You can see it by clicking here for youtube or here for our website.

Hopefully we will see all of our fans from Europe at one of our shows.  I am looking forward to returning to Austria again… I am particularly excited to be going back to Rome, Italy.  We are usually not touring at Christmas, and while we are a bit sad to not be home for the holidays, we have made plans to spend Christmas in the Alps.  I am really looking forward to that.

Anyway… Please check out the Quicksilver video and be sure to leave a comment.  Lastly, we would like  to ask our fans to help us out by writing a review of Quicksilver on Amazon.com (or amzon,de, uk.co, or whatever amazon site is most applicable) and on the iTunes store.  Another thing that really helps is when our fans publish playlists in iTunes.  Playlists that include both Quicksilver and other popular songs by artists whose fans might like us help create higher visibility online.  Its fun, free, and it actually helps.

Don’t forget Christmas is on its way.  Quicksilver makes a great Christmas present for a fan (or future fan).  Has anyone in the USA seen our advert in Wizard Magazine?  As we are in Europe and it is on stands now, we would love to see it if anyone feels like scanning it and emailing it to us.  Also keep in mind we will be returning to the Gothic cruise in fall 2010.  We will co-headline the event with Covenant.  Might make a cool Christmas present… just saying, its never too early to plan.

Wishing everyone a super amazing December (bbbrrrrrrr….).
Happy Holidays!!!

Live Love Be Believe

Rogue

I have a lot of news to post, and I am happy to say most of it is really good:-)
Most of it is about Quicksilver…

First of all, I am incredibly happy to inform you that we have just learned that the Quicksilver soundscans that went uncounted well over a month ago were finally accepted and processed by soundscan.  As a result of getting credit for these sales, Quicksilver has re-entered the charts and landed this week at the #1 position on the Billboard Dance Singles Sales Chart in the USA, and the #2 position on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales Chart also in the USA!!!  It has really happened, it seemed unlikely… or even impossible.  But it has happened and its in the record books!!!  It just goes to show that even when things seem hopeless, you have to keep on fighting, and believe, and sometimes things will happen!  Charting this high is a significant feat, and one that is almost never accomplished by independent artists in the music world.  We want to thank all of our fans that went out and got this CD, all of those who supported us at Dragoncon, and all of you who downloaded it from iTunes and the like.  We also want to thank MVD, our distributor, for hanging in there and not conceding this one away.

Because the CD was released by our own label, Wishfire Records, it is a kind of double victory.  It shows that the band is still setting records and making waves, and it shows that our little label can do the job and make things happen.  Honestly, I feel like dancing I am so happy… ooops, I just did a little jig thingy around the table…. This makes Quicksilver tied with Birthday for our highest charting single, which held the same chart positions in 2007.  Quicksilver even knocked Lady Gaga down to the number 2 position on the dance charts (I know, only for a week… but still, we are independents and it was cool when we did that with Beyonce and Madonna too).

Like Birthday and Immortal, we are preparing a music video for Quicksilver.  We finished shooting it last month and expect the video to be completed in late November.  The video was organized and overseen by Marc Shahboz who also directed the Immortal video.  We will have more information on the video credits when it is released, but we are very excited about some of the visual elements that are being used.  I think that the Quicksilver video will turn out nicely.  Here is a still or two from the video:

We have taken an aggressive marketing position in regards to the song Quicksilver (well the whole single, the “B-sides” are pretty “A-side” if you want my opinion) and are supporting it with some real advertising (and touring).  You can look for our full page color advertisement in Wizard Magazine on stands in the next week or two!   If you don’t know what Wizard is, its a magazine geared towards comics, as well as role playing, video games, anime etc.  Wizard is the owner of a convention some of you might have heard of called Comicon.  We are thinking our ad will stand out:-)  We are hoping to rally more of our fans to pick up copies of Quicksilver for the holidays, and thought a few ads in a magazine with a 200,000 or so circulation might be just what the doctor ordered.  What could make a better Christmas gift than a copy of Quicksilver???  I can’t think of anything.  really.  Blank.  Quicksilver is all that comes to mind.  You will be helping the band out and giving a friend or family member music that they will undoubtedly love;-)  Quicksilver is available in tons of stores like Best Buy, Newbury Comics, Hot Topic, Amazon.com, CDuniverse, iTunes, Zune, JandR, Projekt Mailorder, Storming the Base, and many others.  Please pick up a copy.  Think of it as an investment in our next album.  What are you waiting for???

Check out the Quicksilver info page we have put together at www.cruxshadows.org/Quicksilver.html which includes a streaming version of the disc so you can listen to the whole thing before you buy.  The video will be posted there when it becomes available as well.

Some of you may have also noticed that the Website is completely different.  Jen and I took on the task of redesigning our new website.  It was a pain in the A#$!   But I think it looks great, loads faster, and you don’t have to listen to the music player unless you want to.  We set it up so as to keep information about the band centralized and our social networking… well, networked.  It is modular and really groups everything Cruxshadows together.  We are really happy with the new site, and while I am SURE there are a few bugs floating around…  I think it is far streamlined and infinitely more manageable both for us and our fans.  Let us know what you think.  You can still access the site currently at www.cruxshadows.com .  As we stated in previous posts, there are some legal issues regarding the domain, and you may be better off with www.cruxshadows.org or www.livelovebebelieve.com .  We are still working on getting ownership to our domain name, and we aren’t about to give up on that front either.  But its good to have a backup domain or two (or maybe six).  (More on that in another blog).

The band has picked up some some support from the entertainment industry.  Daisy Rock guitar, which Cruxshadows have used for the last few years for our crunchy ’smash you in the mouth’ guitar sound, has decided to Sponsor us.  Specifically they are supporting our guitarist Cassandra.  Look for Cassie to be playing a shiny new Custom instrument from Daisy Rock.  Congratulations Cassie!  Additionally, Lip Service has contacted Cassie about writing a weekly tour diary on their website!   Don’t miss it.  You can keep up with Cruxshadows on the second leg of our European Quicksilver tour through the eyes of Cassie on the Lip Service website.

 And the Immortal video is now playing on monitors in Journeys Stores all across the country (USA).  Give them a little feedback and let them know you love the immortal video and The Cruxshadows:-)

We are currently in Mainz ramping up for our tour in Europe.  This time we will be playing shows in Germany, The UK, The Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland.  We are very excited because Ayria, one of our favorite bands,  will be opening for us on most of our European dates.  Our fans in America are very familiar, but our fans in Europe may not know them(her) very well yet.  Yet is the operative word:-)  Jen Parkin of Ayria is a great performer and a close friend of Cruxshadows.  We are really excited to have her on tour with us, and we hope that our fans will come out and support both bands on the Quicksilver Tour.

We have also set up a DJ pooling service for Cruxshadows music.  What we have accomplished is a list of DJs who have access to our newer material that is greater than at any point in the past.  We urge you if you are a Club DJ, radio or internet DJ, or an event promoter to please email us and start playing CXS.  Quicksilver is a great dance track, and has a fantastic dance remix that will fill the floor if you spin it three or four times.  To our fans we ask that you request Quicksilver from your local club DJ.  If they say they don’t have it then you can point them here.  You can find out more about our DJ pool at www.cruxshadows.com/DJs.html

There was a lot of unwanted excitement on the trip over here.  Van trouble, computer problems, equipment damaged, and just basically stressful situations upon stressful situations, but I feel really good about things right now… the tour is heading in the right direction. I am really excited about our charting on Billboard and getting the number one spot again.  Its empowering.  We hope that this will help to drum up some excitement for Quicksilver with our fans, and for the tour.  We will be on the road through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, and go back home and begin work on the new full length afterwards.  If all goes according to plan, we will let you know the title in the not too distant future:-)

Tweet, blog, facebook, myspace- Whatever you do, do it please… we need you to get out there and spread a few mentions about Quicksilver.  Somehow those words “Taking back my love, taking back my pride, taking back my dreams, and my life” seem to make a lot of sense to me right now.  I think we can make some things happen together.

Here’s to never giving up.

My best to you all-

Live Love Be Believe

Rogue

I have a number of things to post in the news.

DragonCon

Firstly, I would like to say that Dragoncon went really well overall. The fan support and attendance at our show was so high that the fire marshal had to turn a very long line of people away. While we would have preferred to not be turning any fans or “potential fans” away at all, I guess you can’t do better than 100% occupancy. We apologize to anyone who was not let in.

Our street team (The Cruxshadows Fairies) did an outstanding job getting the word out and deserve a big thank you. We really appreciate all of you that worked so hard for CXS at the convention. We would also like to thank DragonCon for having us and treating us so well. We look forward to returning to DragonCon next year.

Here is a picture of this years CXS Fairies

Billboard

Quicksilver debuted at #7 on the Billboard Hot Dance Single Sales Chart, and #32 on the Billboard Singles Sales Chart. Unfortunately, based on our information, we should have charted a lot higher. It appears the sales from DragonCon were not included for reasons unclear to us. We are looking into the situation and will let you know what we find out. Despite this, I am happy to say that Quicksilver is the best selling single we have ever had in terms of its first week sales. It would have been nice if the industry had recognized the accomplishment.

Round and Round we Go…

Sometimes I feel like I am playing a game of musical chairs. Every time I turn around we are replacing another person. I know it’s hard on the fans… it’s also very hard on us as well. I really never know what to say exactly, and its an awkward place to be… telling our fan-base that somebody they are following is… well… out of the picture. Being part of Cruxshadows is a huge commitment. It requires time and energy and a love of the music that effectively makes it your number one priority. It’s not just about being liked or popular; it’s about wanting to be part of a team of people who are affecting lives globally. It’s hard work, and it requires sacrifice. It’s often stressful, economically challenging, and takes away from the time we have to give to our families, friends, and loved-ones. Most people who join up with us are not from Tallahassee and relocating to someplace far from home is not as easy as it sounds. The extended touring we do all over the world finds us often digging our sense of stability out of the consistency of our instability. Some people are better able to make the jump to this kind of life, and some people are unable to make the transition at all. Some people look at Cruxshadows as a stepping stone that will advance their career, and some people simply want to be part of something… Some people keep their thoughts, frustrations, and goals to themselves so that when they leave we are not even sure what has actually happened.

Having said that, we really didn’t get to know Holly Hasty as well as we would have liked, but she has notified us that she will not be dancing with Cruxshadows following her lone performance with us at DragonCon. As a result, Nichole Tadlock has once again agreed to dance for us on the Gothic Cruise. We have another dancer, Stephanie “Boris” Griffith, who will be joining us for the European and South American tour. We have known Stephanie for a few years. She is an excellent actress, singer, and dancer. She worked with Jessica on Cruxshadows Choreography and has been a supporter of the band behind the scenes.

She will unfortunately miss two or three shows in November when we are in the UK due to previous obligations. We will be looking for someone in the UK to stand in for these dates. If you know anyone in Great Britain who can learn choreography quickly and is willing to play the part, please email us.

If you are in the United States and you are a professionally trained singer and dancer, and feel Cruxshadows is something you might be willing to commit to: we will be taking applications in the hopes of finding a more permanent solution for 2010. In the meantime, a special thank you to Nichole and Stephanie for coming to our aid on such short notice.

Reverberations

Some of you may have heard of reverbnation.com. It’s a website designed to keep musicians in touch with their fans. ReverbNation has integrated a street team into their site- This means that when you choose to be a fan of a band, you can also choose to be a street team member. Doing so automatically provides us with your name and email address. We’ve decided to try out this function, and create a ReverbNation “street team mission”. Anyone who has signed up for the Cruxshadows street team will have access to special widgets that can be posted on websites, blogs, MySpace, or wherever the internet will allow. ReverbNation will track who’s widget gains the most verified fans. It will run for one month starting on September 28. At the end of the contest, whoever has been most successful at spreading the word (getting the most people to become fans of the band on ReverbNation) will be sent a T-shirt The site is free to join, so why not give it a shot? Click on the banner below to be directed to the Cruxshadows ReverbNation page.

On The Radio- WE NEED YOUR HELP!

On Wednesday, September 30th, at 7:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time), a commercial radio station in Tallahassee, Florida, HOT 104.9, will do a short interview with me and play our new single Quicksilver. Getting commercial radio play, even in a market of only a few hundred thousand like Tallahassee, will really help the band and possibly lead to other stations “taking a chance” on CXS. It’s taken us a long time and more than a few attempts to make this happen, and we really need our fans to help. They will play the song on their “Love it or Lose it” segment. If enough people like it they will play it in rotation, and if people dislike it, well… that’s the end of it. What can you do? You can listen to the radio broadcast online, and vote with your mobile phone.

The address for the live radio broadcast is http://www.hot1049.com/Listen-Live/3009483. After the song plays all you have to do is text the phrase “lol” (without quotations) to the number 68255 on your mobile phone. They will send you a response with directions on how to text back your vote. This keeps people from voting multiple times- unless you have more than one mobilephone. You know you could probably vote with a family members phone too… just saying;-) There is no additional charge for the text, only your normal text messaging rate applies. Remember, this is for Wednesday evening. Mark your calendars, set your alarm… you get the picture. We really appreciate it.

Problems with Quicksilver as a digital download

To all of you who had problems downloading the song Avalanche or the remix Quicksilver (Dancefloor Transformation) from the Quicksilver single online. A mistake was apparently made by whomever listed/converted the tracks causing Avalanche to be listed as Quicksilver Remix and vice versa. We informed them of the mistake weeks ago when the song first appeared, and although they have yet to be repaired in Zune & Rhapsody, the songs are now correct on Amazon and iTunes. We apologize for this embarrassing situation, we are working hard to get everything resolved.

Upcoming Dates

We are looking forward to the Gothic Cruise. If any of you are still thinking about coming… Don’t delay any longer! Click on the link to visit the Gothic Cruise Web Site. Oh, and don’t forget your Sunscreen:-)

Here is our new tour poster with the latest dates. Feel free to place it on your site.

That’s about all the news for now-
Don’t forget about the radio thing…

Live Love Be Believe

Rogue

I Have a couple of really important things to say today.

Firstly, We are currently on our way to Dragoncon (I am writing this from the van on a borrowed wireless card) and this is a really important event for us this year for several reasons. After 17 years of being released through independent record labels belonging to others, we have finally reached a point in our career where it is possible for us to break out of the mold and do things ourselves. To that end, we decided earlier this year to start our own label, Wishfire Records.

Our very first release will be the Quicksilver single. A lot is depending on how well the 5 track CD does, and we need to encourage all of our fans to go to their local record store and buy the CD. Hot Topic, Best Buy, Sam Goody, or Amazon.com are all sources for CXS that report their sales. Even iTunes counts if you download the complete disc. Please… Order it early if you have to. We want to cluster the sales right when it comes out to make the biggest impact. We will have them at Dragoncon, but the actual street date is September 8th. I know the economy is bad. But I also believe in this music, and I think that if you like what we have done in the past, then the new single will not disappoint.

We are hoping that if we can get enough groundswell online and through the fans at Dragoncon, we will have a shot at placing in the billboard charts again. Although we have done it before, doing it on our own would really help our reputation both as a band and now as our own label. The CD is well distributed, particularly in the USA. We simply need to get people to go out and buy it. Please pass it on. Let people know. Spread the word. We need your help:-)

And Secondly… We will have a new face dancing opposite Jessica… starting with Dragoncon.

As many of you are aware, Sarah Stewart resigned from Cruxshadows a little over a month ago. Our good friend Nichole Tadlock stepped in and learned the choreography very quickly, before jumping into an international tour with barely three days notice. While Nichole did an absolutely amazing job on our recent European Tour, she intended only to be in this position for a short time. We knew that she was only temporary and that we needed to find a more permanent solution. We thought, when could be better to announce such a thing than the week of D-Con? SO…. We are pleased to announce that Holly Hasty has now joined CXS and will be performing with us for the very first time at DragonCon. We are thrilled to have her onboard. Holly is a professional dancer from the Tampa/St Pete area, and she has clicked with all of us very nicely. We hope that our friends and fans will give her a warm welcome at the convention. Here are some pictures-

Once again. I would like to thank Nichole Tadlock who really kept us on par and moving forward during our most recent tour. You are a lifesaver Nichole… and we love you:-)

Anyway, I need to get going. We have all been without sleep for a while and have some long days ahead of us…

I hope to see as many of you as possible at the Convention.
Live Love Be Believe

Rogue

I have some bad news. Firstly, with only four days remaining before we departed for Germany, Sarah Stewart/Kilgore informed us that due to an unforeseen medical related issue, she would be unable to go on tour with us. While we have been told that Sarah will be fine, it has still created serious complications and unexpected financial ramifications for us and our tour, and we are sincerely disappointed that she was unable to continue forward as planned. She brought much to our performances, and we know how much performing with the band meant to her.

Additionally, it might be worth noting that due to circumstances outside of our control, CDs from our back catalog have not yet been made available to us. We are unclear as to the exact details, but the bottom line is we may not have any of our albums available for sale for our European Tour. We will see what we can do to fix this, but in the meantime, we should have plenty of other merchandise items available for sale.

The glass seems half empty… I know. But Wait…

I also have some very good news to share. The Quicksilver Tour will carry on as planned despite obvious setbacks. On extremely short notice, we have found what we believe to be the best possible solution. Nichole Tadlock is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, singer, & martial artist. A personal friend of ours, she was assisting Jessica and Sarah with choreography for the show. She was working with them on a regular basis for a few weeks. Fortunately she was able to drop everything in order to come on tour and perform with us. She has worked really hard to learn six months worth of routines in only a few days, and we feel very fortunate to have her with us.

We hope our fans will help her feel welcome and at home on stage:-)

In addition, we are pleased to announce that due to the less than ideal situation with our back catalog CDs, we have decided to make the new single Quicksilver available at our European shows prior to its September release.

________________________________________________

JUST IN: Since so many of you have asked, we have learned moments ago that our performance at Dragoncon Labor Day weekend is scheduled for Saturday Night at midnight (which is technically Sunday morning). Hopefully this will allow everyone to help get the word out. We would really like to get as big a crowd as possible to the Con, so if you were considering coming… now you have those final details.

WISHES: As some of you are now aware, Quicksilver is being released on our own imprint WISHFIRE RECORDS. The new label has been an idea in the making for a number of years, and our first release is of course very important. We are hoping to use DragonCon as a kind of springboard to help us produce enough sales to propel ourselves into the Billboard Charts again. This will help us establish the credibility necessary to continue to do business into the future. We will really need a groundswell of support from our fanbase. I know that there should be Cds available in Hot Topic Stores nation wide, as well as a full range of retailers. It would be great to get as many people as possible to get it at DragonCon, or off the shelves in retail, or to order it as soon as it is available. Anywhere that reports to Soundscan. The first week sales really mean so much.

We are in Germany now, a matter of hours from the start of the first leg of our European Quicksilver tour… Although there is a lot playing on each of our minds, we look forward to seeing all of our fans at our upcoming dates in Europe, at the Mera Luna Festival, at Dragoncon, at our shows in South America, or on the Gothic Cruise (I’m on a Boat!). Its a lot like the theatre… and our show will (and must) go on. My best to everyone, wish us luck- The future Belongs to the Brave…

Live love be believe-

Rogue

One more thing- We reduced the size of the Video as it was a problem for a number of players.

Live Love Be Believe-

Rogue

Sorry it has been so long since I posted last. There is so much going on that I don’t really even know where to begin, and it has been difficult to keep up with the news to say the least. But I guess you have to start somewhere, so here goes…

Cruxshadows is (and has been) dealing with a number of issues behind the scenes that have occupied a great deal of time, and placed a serious strain on our infrastructure. I can’t get into everything at this time, but suffice to say there is a lot occupying our attention and cutting into the productivity of the band. Still, despite a number of serious setbacks, we are continuing to move things forward, and with the support of our fan-base are confident that the future will be very bright.

Here are the things I can share with you…

Our Website…

Firstly, It is important to note, that due to issues outside of our control, the address www.cruxshadows.com, may at some point in the near future be redirected by a third party to a website other than ours. We are currently taking steps to rectify this situation, and have secured several other domain names that all point to our website as a workaround in the event that this actually happens. If www.cruxshadows.com goes down, one of these domains will become the primary link for Cruxshadows official website until we can secure our rights. Please add one or two to your bookmarks or links on your website or myspace page.

www.officialcruxshadows.com
www.thecruxshadows.net
www.livelovebebelieve.com
www.cruxshadows.org
www.thecruxshadows.org
www.cruxshadowsmusic.com

All of them are currently up and working. Type one in (or click on one). I particularly like livelovebebelieve.com.

We should let you know as well, email to the band ending in @cruxshadows.com may no longer reach us if the website is redirected. This of course, creates a lot of difficulty. Additional issues, such as our podcast, our audio player, and our news & RSS feeds will also likely be affected. We will try to get new email links up and operational ASAP.

Now in all fairness, as of this posting, cruxshadows.com is still working… and is still under our control… and its still the best way to access information on the band. In the event that www.cruxshadows.com ceases to function, we will explain in detail what has happened on our other websites and on www.myspace.com/cruxshadows. Additionally, our myspace page, the forums at www.cruxshadows.info, and our German language site at www.cruxshadows.de will not be affected in any way.

whew… okay, hope that wasn’t too confusing…

On the subject of the internet-

Cruxshadows is now on twitter. More amazing than that is its actually me doing it:-) You heard me right. My friend, DJ Arkitekt, was in our studio helping me with some remix issues. He decided we needed a twitter page. He set it up, and posted the first tweet from us (yeah the first one was really him). So…. now you can follow what I do. I can’t imagine it would be so much fun to read… but… It is easier keep up with than blogging, and it might be cool while we are on tour. Check it out:-) Here’s a link… www.twitter.com/thecruxshadows

Now news about the band-

Earlier this year, Valerie Gentile (our guitar player throughout our 2008 tour) found herself unable to continue with Cruxshadows. She has left the band for personal reasons, returning to New York City. Her time with Cruxshadows was very short, but we all enjoyed having Val play in the band. She was very enthusiastic, had a great stage presence, and brought a humor to things that all of us will certainly miss. We wish you the best of luck Val, and success in all of your future musical endeavors.

Finding someone to play for Cruxshadows is not as easy as you might think. We not only have high skill requirements and difficult time commitments, but we also need someone who gets along well with all of the band members, can deal with long tours, and understands the uniqueness of CXS. It becomes really difficult as so many of the typical ways that things are done in the rock ‘n’ roll world have no application in what we do. After several months of searching, however, we are pleased to announce that we have found a guitar player, and will be moving forward with our tour plans for 2009.

Our new guitarist will be cassandra Luger. Cassandra is from Tallahassee, Florida and has been part of the music scene here for a number of years. She began her musical training at an early age, and progressed into an accomplished singer songwriter. She enjoys composing music on the piano, but the guitar is by far her weapon of choice. We are confident she will become a valuable addition to the band, and we are looking forward to the upcoming tour-dates together. We hope that all of our fans will make her feel welcome… we think she’s pretty cool.

And What About Touring…??

Of course, I said something about touring… So… Announcing our Quicksilver Tour.

Currently we are spending long hours practicing for our European dates as part of the Quicksilver World Tour that will begin in a few weeks. Honestly, everything is coming so fast. There are updated tour dates on our tour page, as well as www.wod.de. Look for us on the Mera Luna Festival this summer, as well as Summer Darkness Festival in the Netherlands. We will be playing some smaller more personal shows across Germany, and a few shows in Eastern Europe including Prague and Budapest.

We are also making plans toward visiting South America in the second half of 2009. Stay tuned for that and we should be listing dates soon.

We will be heading to the UK towards the end of the year (November), as well as adding a number of other European dates to that Leg.

While I am listing out where we are headed this year, I think we should make mention of one trip that will not end up happening as we had planned. We have spent the last few years trying to get to Iraq to play for the troops. Its just something that I have really wanted to do. We got the run-around from the USO for a while, but continued our attempts to make something happen. Recently, it appeared that all our efforts would pay off when we were contacted by the US Army directly, and they made plans for us to appear and perform a series of shows across Iraq. Unfortunately, military budget cuts have caused the cancellation of our tour. Disappointing to have come so close… but we have not given up yet and would certainly appreciate it if any of our fans have any connections that might help us in this department. ( Are you listening John Ringo readers? ).

Most of our shows in 2009 will take place outside of the United States. However, we will be playing DragonCon 2009 again this year. Hopefully this will give many of our fans in the US the opportunity to see us play, prior to our next US Tour which should take place sometime in 2010. A lot has changed this year, I know our table will be nowhere near where it used to be… a different hotel I think… We’ll try and get the details and pass it on to you. The celebrity list this year is extremely impressive including Leonard Nimoy, Traci lords, Patrick Stewart, and too many others to name. As a big fan of the tv show Farscape, I have to say I am really impressed- Ben Browder, Claudia Black, & Virginia Hey are all going to be there!!!! Check out the full list at www.dragoncon.org. Memberships and information can be obtained at www.dragoncon.org/members.php#DC_Memb .

Of course, DragonCon isn’t exactly the only opportunity our fans in America will have to see us play. Not if you count playing on a boat that leaves from the US!

As many of you know, The Cruxshadows have been booked to headline the Gothic Cruise in October of this year. The Gothic Cruise is a regular event that takes place on the Carnival Cruise Lines and promises to be a lot of fun for everyone. This year the Cruise will feature a performance by us, as well as State of the Union, Modulate, & Cruciform Injection. There will also be DJs, a fashion show, several parties, and a whole lot more. The cruise is based out of Tampa Florida, and will sail to the Cayman Islands, Mexico (Cozumel), Belize, & Isla Roatan. If you register soon, you can use the special code crux001 and receive an additional $50 discount. To help our fans outside of the USA, a $100 discount is available if you are a resident of Europe or Australia. Food and alcohol are provided as part of the ticket price, but the prices will continue to go up, so we encourage you to book your trip soon. You can find out more info by going to www.gothiccruise.com.

If you have never booked a cruise before, or simply want to speak to a real human being, you can call the Gothic Cruise Booking Office at (813) 325 – 7435. Although tickets will probably be available up until the ship sails, the price only gets steeper the longer you wait. Don’t delay, take that (gothic) romantic trip you have been thinking about;-)

Remembering Ray

On a very sad note, Ray Moresco, JoHanna’s father, was recently killed in a motorcycle accident. Ray was JoHanna’s best friend, and was a huge supporter of the band. He loved music, and he passed that love on to her. He had planned to move from Kansas to Florida to be with his daughter, and often told his friends that he would like to tour around the country with us. JoHanna has had a very hard time, but has hung in there. She was her fathers only child and they were both very proud of each other. She would like to say thank you to everyone who has shown their love and support in this difficult time. Take care Ray, love to you from JoHanna, from me, and from the band. We know somewhere out there you’ll get the message.

New Music…

As a final piece of news, we will be releasing a new single very soon entitled Quicksilver. (Hence the name of the above mentioned tour… a little forshadowing there:-) ) It will come out the first week of September in the USA, and although the date for Europe is not yet decided, it should be about the same (if not before). It will feature three brand new tracks- Quicksilver, Avalanche, & Roland; as well as a Quicksilver radio edit and club mix. We think the single sounds great, and we are hoping to take another shot at the billboard charts. Obviously , we need everybody to get behind us in order to make this happen. I’ll see about getting a song excerpt up soon, maybe some lyrics… so keep checking back. You will hear a lot about this song, as it is incredibly important to the band that this single does well. Fortunately we will be able to use Dragoncon again to help push the release of this single. Please spread the word any way you can, we need to generate a real buzz…

I think it may be possible to push for radio play in the USA. We will look at what can be done to help promote this CD, and if any of you all want to help (IE street teaming, radio connections, blogs, podcasts, reviews, etc), please let us know…
We’ll have more information about the release very soon.

Odds and Ends

We have made some inroads towards getting our online store up and running. I know you’ve heard that before:-) But hopefully we can make something actually happen in the next few months…

A special thanks to all of those who are helping to support the band by bidding on old posters, postcards, mugs, & bracelets on Jen’s ebay page. We really appreciate your help. Please know that the money from these auctions helps us to keep our operation going. Sincere thanks. We may be putting a few one of a kind items on there soon as well, so bookmark her page;-)

There may be a couple more surprises in store for the future. But I think that we have covered enough for the time being. Once again, thank you for your loyalty and support. We love you all.

Live Love Be Believe-

Rogue of CXS

Monday, Oct 13th at The Knitting Factory, LA
7021 Hollywood Blvd Suite 209
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 463-0204

Go to Official Knitting Factory, LA Website

We have just learned that the venue for our show in Los Angeles has been changed- Safari Sam’s has been closed down, so the event will be moved to The Joint, located at 8771 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles. Click here for the new venue’s myspace page.

Hope to see you there:-)

Rogue

I am a bit short on time… we are on our way to Tulsa Oklahoma. The US Tour is underway. But I have a few very important announcements… So, I shall cut to the chase.

First- Dragoncon went really well. The show was so much fun, and the crowd was absolutely amazing. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to kick off the US Tour. We want to say thank you to the “Cruxshadows fairies” (our street team) and the staff of Dragoncon for all their help. We had a record attendance; unfortunately the fire marshall was not as enthusiastic about the number of people who showed up… and a lot of people were turned away. Needless to say the energy of the crowd was still awesome. And I was really proud of the band.

Second- Our US Tour is now underway. We will be playing 50+ shows across the United States from September through December… yes, a very long tour. In order to promote the event, we created a short video that can be downloaded as a podcast or watched via youtube. The footage features CXS in its newest lineup, live from both the Blackfield Festival in Europe and Dragoncon in the United States. The Immortal Tour will feature Ayria and I:scintilla (Both from Alfa Matrix Records). Please feel free to help us to promote the tour by spreading this video everywhere. Cryoflesh.com, vampirefreaks.com, and projekt.com are all sponsors of the American leg of the tour. Please feel free to let them know that you appreciate their support of Cruxshadows.

You can watch the promotional video below…

if you want to link to it… it can be found at this address-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq8I5B1F0iA

Thirdly… well, I saved the best announcement for last… To kick off our US Tour, our new single Immortal has climbed up the Charts entering Billboard at position number two in the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart- Just behind MIA and just ahead of Madonna. We also debuted at #6 on the Hot Singles Sales Chart, also on Billboard. This marks our third consecutive single that debuted in the top 10 in sales nationally. I am really proud of all the hard work that the band did to make this happen, and grateful for the support of our fans.

Well we need to get going… I hope to see you all at some point on our tour. The latest dates can be found on pollstar.com. Hope to see you all at shows very soon.

Live Love Be Believe

Rogue of CXS

Hello Everyone,

We are underway… For those of you who do not know, we are currently on tour In Europe. So far it is going really well, although there have been a number of technical problems that have made for a few challenging performances. The new members of the lineup have done well, and I am really looking forward to the coming shows. We have played 4 shows (2 club shows and 2 festivals) so far, and we could not have hoped for more enthusiastic and supportive crowds. We played in Sweden for the Arvika Festival, and in Germany at the blackfield festival.

Our shows for the USA are currently being booked, so we urge all venues and promoters in North America who wish to do a show with CXS to open discussions on the subject sooner than later. You can contact our booking agent by writing to athan at cruxshadows dot com.

And speaking of the tour- We have chosen our support for the upcoming shows-

Our US Tour will be supported by both our good friends in Ayria, as well as the very talented I:scintilla (both are signed to alfamatrix).

Many of our UK shows will be supported our friends in Deviant UK

Our German shows will be supported by our new friends in Akanoid.

I hope that we will see many of you at our shows in the coming months. I will try to post again as things move forward.
New images of CXS live can be seen at the Rock ‘n’ roll reporter and at the German language website for Cruxshadows.

till next time-

Live Love Be Believe

Rogue

I have a number of important things to tell you about.

First off, we are happy to announce that we will be releasing a new single in July.

The song is called Immortal and is available currently for pre-order from isotank.com… and soon pre-ordering should be a possibility on Amazon as well. The single will feature 3 versions of the title track, and two additional and exclusive tracks… one of those is an all new version of Ariadne and the other is a completely new song titled Exile. I am really excited about this disk. Not only do I think the new songs sound amazing, but they are played by and recorded with the now current lineup… but I am getting a little ahead of myself.

You can preview a little bit of the Immortal single on the cruxshadows.com audio player.

If all goes according to plan, the single will be followed up with a special “Best Of” disc sometime later this year. I will give more details as they become available.

Secondly, The Immortal Tour, which takes its name from the new single, should be pretty exciting. It begins in Germany on the 1st of July. We will play shows all over Europe before heading back to North America to continue with the next leg of our tour. We have confirmed that we will be performing at DragonCon ‘08, and we look forward to kicking off our US dates there, in Atlanta, Georgia. DragonCon is both a favorite of ours and a favorite among fans, and if you have never attended, it is well worth checking out.

North American dates will be posted as they become available.

I know many of you have been curious about some of the lineup changes that have occurred in recent months, and I am pleased to finally release the names of the individuals we have chosen to be part of CXS. So here we go… you can find out all about each of them on their bio page by clicking their name.

As many of you already know from my previous update, Valerie Gentile will be playing guitar. I can’t say enough good things about Val.

When it came to finding a new violin player, we had a very difficult time. The truth is we could not make up our mind and ended up with two violinists, giving us our very own string section:-) Our new violin players are David Wood and JoHanna Moresco. David is a classically trained violinist/violist from Wyoming and Johanna is a self taught player from Kansas. They have completely different playing styles, but together not only allow us to do what we have done in the past, but add a new dimension to the arrangements and open a whole world of possibilities… and we liked them both too much to choose just one.

On the opposite side of the stage from Jessica, will be our new dancer/backup singer Sarah Kilgore. Sarah has been interested in dancing for CXS for a few years, and she is certainly qualified. She is a trained dancer with over a decade of experience in contemporary, modern, ballet, jazz, & tap dancing styles. In college she competed on ESPN at the UDA nationals and was named a UDA All Star. She has worked as a choreographer and dance instructor, but seems to be a perfect match for the band.

Everyone has been working hard to put all the pieces in place. It has not been easy. There is a lot that we still have to do… And there is a tremendous amount of pressure on each of them. But I really like this group of people, they each add something special to the Crüxshadows. I hope that you all will enjoy seeing and hearing them play as much as I have enjoyed working with them so far. From where I stand, the future looks very bright.

One last note. I recently popped up in a comic strip from England, as a jelly bean… or a Gothy Bean to be more accurate. Here’s an excerpt we liked. Click on the picture to see it a little bigger:-)

If you want to check out more Gothy Beans you can find them here or just go to www.gothybeans.com

my best to you all-

Live, Love, Be, Believe

Rogue

It’s true. We did it. I am very happy to tell you that Jessica and I are now… married:-)

The details: We wed in Charleston, South Carolina, in the Historic District. The ceremony was held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. It was a beautiful mass in one of the oldest and most engaging cathedrals in the United States. The church was filled with red poinsettias. It was really gorgeous. The music was a mixture of pieces from Bach, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Pachelbel, Clarke, & others, all arranged for, and performed by, pipe-organ, strings, and voice. We were married on December 29th, which is technically the Fifth Day of Christmas. Traditionally speaking, Christmas lasts 12 days, from the 25th to the 6th of January… like the song;-) Previously, over the course of our relationship, I have given jessica 4 gold rings… So the fifth one was her wedding band, and it came on an appropriate day:-)

We left the church in a Cinderella-style horse drawn carriage, and arrived at the original Citadel from the Civil War era, now converted from a fortress into a hotel. There we had a two part reception . First, hors d’oeuvres were served in the indoor Atrium, a glass inclosed area in the heart of the structure. The guests were gathered by the central fountain where we had a string quartet playing. Jessica and I posed for a few photos while guests got to know each other. We then proceeded to dinner, served in the Main Ballroom. As it was Christmas, the decorations were elegantly inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The flowers were predominantly Calais Lilies, and the arrangements were stunning. There were ostrich feathers, origami, and even those candied almonds. On every table white pumpkins with Jack Skellington’s face glowed with candlelit eyes and smiles, as the room slowly and subtly shifted through a spectrum of color in a seemingly magical feat of lighting (designed by CXS’ very own lightman Zak Wilson). The cake was an incredible “hatters” style creation, decorated in fondant, wrapped in a cascade of sugar calais lilies spiraling around each tier, topped by a hand blown glass Jack and Sally. Each part was flavored differently: hummingbird, carrot cake, or strawberry. (hummingbird is a traditional southern flavor- honey & pineapple). And a huge ice sculpture of spiral hill was prominently placed near the entryway. During dinner our string quartet played a selection which included arrangements from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Harry Potter, and even The Addams Family!, Afterwards our favorite Disc Jockey- DJ Ian Fford of NYC- got people dancing.

There is so much more… so many wonderful, magical details that I couldn’t even begin to tell… so i put up a gallery and you can see some of it for yourself. You can find it here. (www.cruxshadows.com/Wedding/index.html) The page is large and takes a while to load, so be patient. Its worth the wait;-) In looking at photos you might also notice that Steve & Donna of Ego likeness, DJ Ian Fford, Athan Maroulis of Spahn Ranch, and our former dancer Beth, are all among the members of the wedding party.

And while we are on the subject of weddings… Former violinist Rachel McDonnell also tied the knot. She was married two weeks ago in South Florida. On behalf of myself, the band, and the fans, I wish to congratulate her and wish her the upmost happiness. Happy Wedding thoughts to Rachel & Harry:-)

OK- Now that the wedding is over and Jessica and I are back from our Honeymoon, I have some other important announcements to make.

First, George Bikos has decided to retire from the Cruxshadows. It actually happened after our tour in 2007, but we agreed we should keep things quiet for the time being… at least until we could find a suitable replacement, particularly with the wedding occupying so much of our time. George started playing with us a few years ago after Stacey Campbell left the band. George’s personality clicked with us early on, and he became an integral part of CXS, particularly on tour. His stage presence, his friendly yet unassuming nature, and his unmistakable personal style made him a favorite among our fans, and we appreciate all of his hard work and contributions over the years.

Even though we will miss him, we are very happy to add that he and dancer Sarah Poulos became engaged to be married recently. They moved back home to St. Petersburg in order to be closer to their parents. Although Sarah Poulis has voiced some interest in reappearing with CXS at some point in the future, she has chosen to become inactive with the band in order to spend her time with her mother and her new fiance.

George made the following statement by email addressing the fans:

“To all the fans… I know some of you may be a little upset that I have decided to leave the cruxshadows, but know that I did it for a reason. Many of you already know that me and Sarah are planning on getting married and that, coupled with my father’s failing health and, honestly, a little bit of old fashioned home sickness was just a little too much. I decided it would be better to get back in school and educate myself to support all the babies Sarah wants:) You can’t exactly take twelve babies on a nine month tour!!! Anyways I just wanted to wish everyone well… This is goodbye, but not farewell… Horhey out like a light in the night…“

Sarah sent the following statement:

“While this pains me to no end, I must inform you all that I will no longer be permanately touring with the Cruxshadows. I love what I do. I love the music, I love the fans, and I love the scene. Unfortunately, my family comes first. My mother was diagnosed with a pretty awful disease, and I felt it necessary to move back home to be closer to her. This obviously does not work well with the band’s pretty hefty practice and touring schedule. When you add that to my upcoming wedding and house purchase, it makes for a pretty difficult life decision. So after long talks, (and a few shedding of the tears) it was decided that it would be better if I was no longer a permanent fixture of the band. We all hope that I can someday dance and sing with the band again…maybe on some short tours or even DragonCon, who knows? Nothing is ever final. I love you all and I feel blessed to have have had you in my life. The past 4 years have been some of the best and most amazing, and I owe most of that to you. Without you this opportunity would have never entered my life in the first place. So thank you. Live, love, be, believe…(in fairies “

We wish Sarah and George much success and happiness in their life together.

Which leads us to…this.

We are very pleased to announce that our new guitar player will be Valerie Gentile. Val is from New York City and has been playing guitar for most of her life. She has a bachelors degree in music business and audio recording technology. She’s a skilled player, a longtime fan of CXS, and a really cool person (actually she rocks:-). Val worked as a studio engineer, a studio guitarist, and has played bass & guitar on stage for a handful of bands in the NYC area. Additionally, she is a talented vocalist who can also play bass, keyboards, and drums. We believe she will be a very positive addition to Cruxshadows and we hope that all of our fans will make her feel welcome in her new role. Here’s some pics in case you were curious…

Other quick notes:

We have begun booking shows in Europe starting in July. We will be on tour in Europe through the Summer and will start booking for Fall in North America, so keep an eye on that in the coming months.

Some of you might have noticed Cruxshadows on CSI. Yes, it’s true. A fictional fan of the band was thrown out of a window to her death, and her dorm room filled with Cruxshadows posters became the crime scene. We were sad that the CXS fan ended up dead… but Hey- it’s prime-time TV! The episode is called Goodbye & Good Luck and if you missed it you can buy it for $1.99 in the iTunes store- If you have itunes, just click here to check it out.

We are actively auditioning violin players and dancers. We will be making a selection soon, but there is still time to be considered. If you or someone you know is interested, please email us. A performance sample, recent photo, and brief bio are encouraged. But please act quickly, with a European tour only months away, there is no time to delay.

That’s all for now- But there will be more news soon…

Live Love Be Believe-

Rogue

A few days after Christmas,I am happy to say, Jessica and I will be getting married. I wanted to do something really special, so I wrote and performed a new song as a kind of gift to Jessica. We thought you all might enjoy having a copy of it, so for a limited time(?) we are giving this song away as a Christmas present to all of our fans. Its a way for us to say thank you for all the support you have given us, and in a minor way, include everyone in our event. We wish we could have invited you all to celebrate with us, but its just not possible…

The song is called- A Promise Made (Wedding Day). It is available in AAC format and will work on most computers and iPods. I hope you all enjoy it.

You can get the song here, or as a part of our official podcast in the iTunes store:-) Just download from this link- WeddingDay.m4a

I will see about putting up some pictures of the wedding afterwords- hopefully we will get some good ones. And I have lots of other important news to deliver in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. I will be updating again very soon.

Thats it for me on Christmas Eve. Much love to you all.

Be safe & have a Happy Christmas- Live Love Be Believe- Rogue

Just a quick post. And a bit of a Favor to ask…

First- I want to let everyone know that if our website has been acting funny as of late- its because we moved our domain to a new host. We tried to make the move as unnoticeable as possible. But we have made the move now- and I want to point out the new photo galleries, the new menu controls, the new lyrics page, the new press page, the new music page, and the fact that the guestbook is working again (thanks Zak). So please come and check out the Website, there are a lot of little improvements. I hope you all like what we have done…

Anyway- to that favor…

Although Birthday has fallen back on the Billboard Dance Chart from #1 to #9, there is something very exciting going on. With the success the song has had so far, Dancing Ferret (our label) has decided to take a serious leap and attempt to push it to commercial radio. First of all, let me explain how crazy an idea this is. Commercial radio does not play independent music. It just doesn’t. It hasn’t and it probably won’t. But Indie goth bands don’t chart on Billboard either. But we have… So we have decided to tackle an even bigger giant… RADIO… and see what happens. What we need to make this work is some serious support from our fanbase. We need everyone of you, and everyone you can recruit, to call in and bug the radio stations to play Birthday! We need to do it in markets throughout the United States, So it will be really difficult.

I will try to get a list and post it here online. We need all our fans to call and tell your local radio station that you want to hear Birthday by the Cruxshadows, and not only that- you want them to be the station to play it. And don’t just take NO for an answer. We need people to call, and call often. Have your friends call often. We will be servicing a large number of radio stations, and if we get a few of them playing our stuff- well… you never know.

I will get that list of stations up soon. The target date for Radio to begin playing Birthday is Sept. 24th. It might happen. But only with your help…

Live Love Be Believe

I guess right now, I should emphasize “believe”:-)

My best to you all-
Rogue

I received a call from our record label early this morning. And it’s true… lightning has struck twice! According to Billboard.com, the official website for Billbooard magazine, Birthday has reached the number 1 spot on the Hot Dance Singles Sales Chart and the number 2 spot on the Hot Singles Sales Chart! We got a very nice push from Hot Topic. Sales from Amazon.com and Best Buy helped us a lot too. There were pre-orders from isotank.com, there were people that got it through iTunes, and there were a lot of indie record shops that have been supporting us for years… But the difference maker was of course DragonCon. The CD sales generated from DragonCon put us over the top and helped us to land our second Billboard #1. It seems unbelievable just writing that… But even more bizarre, Sophia re-entered the charts and climbed back to the number three spot on the Dance Charts, and the #23 spot on the single sales charts!!! CXS has two songs on the Billboard Charts at the same time… this week!

So the first and most important thing I need to say is Thank You. You, our fans, are part of this. You are why there is a CXS at all. Without you we are nothing really…

Since DragonCon had such an impact on things, there are a people that i would really like to Acknowledge. The Staff of DragonCon is an important one; for taking care of us each year… but particularly this year. And for having us back each year… The CrüxShadows Fairies deserve a a very big thank you too… because the difference they make is so huge and we could not have pulled this off without our winged street team. And lets not forget the people that worked our sales booth… particularly Laura. Laura was our merchandise person for the entire DreamCypher Tour. She did an amazing job. Salesperson of the year perhaps?

The performance at DragonCon was the perfect end to our DreamCypher tour. As many of you know it was Rachel’s last show and I know that she will not soon forget the affection the crowd had for her. I thought the entire band had a great show. I was really proud of them all. I know that there are big changes coming in the future, but they each played tightly and with an amazing enthusiasm. The Ballroom was filled to capacity- One of the members of the Security team told us it was the best attended event at DragonCon… ever. True or not, it was nice to hear and the room was filled to capacity. And I should definitely add that Zach’s lighting was the best I have ever seen at DragonCon. I think it was a good show:-)

I wrote the song Birthday on my actual birthday in 2006 and it was the last song I wrote for DreamCypher. Birthdays have always been intensely introspective for me, and I decided to write down some of what I felt and turn it into a song. It completed the album for me, and all the pieces seemed to fall into place. One year later, again on my birthday, I found myself putting together the Birthday single. I did not expect people to love this song as much as they do… In fact I was honestly afraid that people would dislike it. But the response to it has been nothing short of astounding. So many people have written to tell me about the impact that it has had on their lives. Our record label made the decision to release it as a single with very little time remaining before the deadlines. Anyone who knows me knows that I am all about facing impossible challenges, but this hill seemed to steep to climb. I was looking at having to do the writing, audio recording, editing, engineering, photography, artwork, graphic design, liner notes, layout, mastering, and proofing- all in the two weeks prior to the last leg of our tour in Europe. At times I felt overwhelmed and everything seemed hopeless. But nothing is impossible… Jessica and Jen both went above and beyond spending many sleepless nights to help in the creation this disc, and so I thought it was fitting that the results from Billboard would be published within a few hours of Jen’s birthday! Happy Birthday Jen:-)

Much of what I would like to say, I said the last time we made it into the charts. But I will try not to be too redundant:-) I want everyone to realize just how significant the role of the fans is, and how much we love them. Crüxshadows is very special to me. It is something spiritual and something true… When I started this project in 1992 it was with a desire to make music that conveyed something meaningful and positive. I had a vision; a dream. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives through art, poetry, music, and performance. Despite the many changes and challenges the band has edured, we have stayed true to that vision. Still, over the last 15 years many people have tried to lessen what CXS has accomplished and have tried to dilute its significance. People will always attack what is different, what they do not understand, or what they feel threatened by. It has weighed heavy on me… the negativity that is often aimed in my direction. Pair this with the unending barrage of work necessary to keep us moving forward; the constant traveling, the tight schedules, the stress and responsibility, the expectations of so many people….

Its hard. But through it all, the fans and supporters of this band have been my light… my lifeline. And this is where I want to be… Who I want to be.

I have seen CXS profoundly touch the hearts and minds of so many people. God knows I have been very fortunate in that respect. That is the greatest reward for any artist. I have over the years realized what Crüxshadows really means, not only to me, but to our fans. Some people don’t get it, and thats ok. When I watch the video for Birthday which we shot on stage in front of a huge crowd in China, it strikes me… I stood on stage in a communist country and sang “look at your life, who do you want to be before you die, look at your life, you haven’t got forever”. Music does make a difference. There is a satisfaction in knowing that this song- Birthday – is on top and in the record books, even if its only for a week.

Thank you for believing. We love you all…

Live Love Be Believe

Rogue